A Crisis is Imminent
by She who watches the Multiverse
Summary: As surges of anti-matter build up across the Multiverse, the Doctor receives a visit from a mysterious woman who dies in her arms. Her final message- a Crisis is imminent. As the Multiverse itself wears thin, the Doctor must breach across reality. But can she stop this Crisis from destroying all universes? [ALSO STARRING CLUB PENGUIN, DENNIS & GNASHER UNLEASHED! AND KRYPTON]
1. A Crisis is Imminent

**Part 1- A Crisis is Imminent**

_Earth-2- Central City_

Jesse Quick sped into the cortex of STAR Labs, having just dropped off Evan McCulloch, AKA Mirror Master, at Iron Heights.

'Nice one, Jesse,' said her father, Harry.

'Thanks,' answered Jesse. 'But he won't talk. We have no idea what he or his rogues are planning.'

'Jess, this is still a win,' argued Harry. 'We will-'

Before he could finish, all the alarms started going off with a furious intensity, as STAR Labs was rocked by an earthquake.

'What was that?' asked Jesse.

'I don't know,' answered Harry. 'You're going to be needed out there.'

Jesse nodded, speeding away to find out what was happening.

* * *

Jesse came to a stop outside the CCPD, looking up at the sky in shock as it turned blood red. She activated her comm device.

'Dad, the sky has turned red. What's going on?' Jesse asked, receiving nothing but static in response. 'Dad?'

'Jesse…Can…Me?' Harry's voice broke through the static, rapidly fading in and out. 'It's…Anti-mat-'

'Dad, come in!' Jesse cried, panicking. She turned round and looked back at STAR Labs. As she did so, the red sky was consumed by a wave of white energy, destroying everything it touched. Tears streamed down Jesse's face as she watched it destroy STAR Labs.

'DAD!' Jesse screamed, as the wave sped towards her. Jesse turned and ran, as fast she could. Whatever this energy wave was, it was destroying the whole planet. Jesse looked back over her shoulder, noticing the wave was catching up with her, even at full speed. She opened a portal to the Speed Force, intent on going to Earth-1, to ask Team Flash for help. As she entered the portal, the energy wave hit her, and she screamed in pain, losing control of her trajectory.

As she fell uncontrollably through the Speed Force, she saw that what was happening to her Earth was happening to all of them. The Multiverse, being destroyed by one singular Crisis. She saw her friends and many other heroes trying to fight it. She saw and heard it all.

'Calm down, Electric Guy. The name is Black Lightning. / Oliver, it's time. Has the planet been evacuated yet? / Consider us even, John Constan_tine. _Heh, heh. Constan_teen_. Is it? I don't care. / Oracle, it's Huntress. Come in. / Novu said the Flash must die in Crisis. He never said which one. / HOLY CRIMSON SKIES OF DEATH!'

Jesse could scarcely believe the horror of what she was seeing. She saw another portal opening up beneath her, as she fell through it.

* * *

_The TARDIS- hurtling through time and space_

The Doctor danced around the console unit, rapidly pulling levers and pressing buttons, as her three companions- Ryan, Yaz and Graham- watched her intently.

'Doc, I don't mean to complain or anything, but when exactly are we going to get to this space restaurant? Cos I'm really hungry,' Graham asked.

'Calm down, Graham. The wait will be worth it,' answered the Doctor. 'The Terrapika Fripec is the best restaurant in the entire universe. The food is genetically engineered so it tastes better the hungrier you are.' With that, the Doctor looked up at the computer monitor and frowned.

'Wait, that's not right,' she said, pointing at an anomaly. 'What's that?' Suddenly, a blue portal opened up, spitting out jolts of multi-coloured lightning all over the control room, as a streak of yellow lightning shot out of the portal, crashing into the side of the console, revealing a woman with long brown hair with a black mask, wearing a red suit with yellow trousers, with a winged lightning bolt emblem on her chest. The Doctor ran to her side, scanning her with her screwdriver, as the portal closed.

'Are you ok?' The Doctor asked. The woman seemed to be unconscious, so the Doctor sat her up against the console. The woman suddenly woke up and grabbed onto the Doctor's lapels, startling Graham, Yaz and Ryan.

'Have- have to get to… Earth-1,' the woman stammered, short of breath. 'Warn them…A Crisis is Imminent…' The life seemed to be slipping from her body. 'Tell Wally I lo…' The woman stopped talking, as her body faded away, into nothing.

'What just happened?' asked Ryan, after a few moment of silence.

'Her entire cellular structure just… collapsed,' said the Doctor, standing up and checking the readout on her screwdriver.

'What could do that?' asked Graham, all thoughts of food gone.

'Anti-matter,' the Doctor stated gravely.

'Anti-matter?' asked Yaz. 'Like the stuff that powered the Tsuranga ship?'

'Not exactly,' answered the Doctor. 'That was safe and refined, solely generated to provide energy. This anti-matter is raw, destructive power, capable of annihilating all matter in…' The Doctor trailed off at this point.

'In what?' Ryan asked.

'In an entire universe,' replied the Doctor, operating the TARDIS controls, before looking up at the screen. 'I'm scanning for a universe that exists on that woman's specific dimensional frequency. And of course there isn't one.'

'What are you talking about, Doc?' said Graham. 'Are you saying that she came from a whole other universe?'

'She did,' confirmed the Doctor. 'But it's all gone. Every piece. Vaporised.'

'So how did she get here?' Yaz asked.

'That lightning. I never thought it was real, just a myth,' the Doctor began. 'The Speed Force. A conscious universe that can manipulate space-time. If someone becomes connected to it, they can run impossibly fast, fast enough to travel through time and space, even to run to whole other universes. The anti-matter must have knocked her off course as she entered the Speed Force. She mentioned trying to get to Earth-1. Presumably, an Earth parallel to her own, where she had friends that she was trying to warn about the imminent Crisis.' A look of grave realisation came over the Doctor's face. 'Oh, no…'

'What is it?' asked Ryan, getting worried now.

'Worlds will live, Worlds will die, When the Crisis is imminent, The Harbinger must fly. To find heroes, And have a chance that is even, To save the Multiverse, Unite the Seven,' the Doctor muttered.

'What's that?' Yaz asked.

'It's an old nursery rhyme from my home planet,' explained the Doctor. 'Based on an even older prophecy that was declared forbidden knowledge. It speaks of a Crisis, one that would destroy all universes in existence. The whole Multiverse.'

'Right, I get it,' said Graham. 'That girl was the Harbinger, and you're one of the seven heroes that she needs to find.'

'No, she doesn't fit the description from the prophecy,' the Doctor replied. 'I think she was just a victim. But if the prophecy is coming true… I need to check the Multiverse.' The Doctor started operating the controls. 'Opening up the dimension scanners.' The screen lit up with hundreds- maybe thousands- of little dots.

'What are those?' asked Ryan.

'Each dot is a digital representation of all the universes around us. That's us,' the Doctor said, pointing. 'Then there's Pete's World, the Celestial Toyroom, the Solitract, E-Space. Dimensional signatures strong. That won't last long.'

'Wait, some of those dots are disappearing,' noticed Yaz. 'What's happening?'

'Huge waves of anti-matter, destroying whole universes,' said the Doctor. 'What could do that? Who could do that? Omega? No, this is too big, even for him.'

'Hang on,' Graham piped up. 'What's keeping us safe?'

'Absolutely nothing,' the Doctor replied. 'One big surge, and our entire universe would be destroyed. Even the TARDIS couldn't survive that. I need to know what's happening. I need to get out there.' The Doctor ran back to the console, and lifted up a panel in the floor, throwing random pieces of tech over her shoulder. 'Where is it? Aha!' The Doctor pulled out a round, silver device with a large yellow button on it.

'What's that?' asked Yaz.

'A dimension cannon,' replied the Doctor. 'Thank you, Jake Simmonds! I can use this to breach into other universes, investigate whatever this Crisis is.' The Doctor opened up a panel on the back, and took out a computer chip. 'Not a particularly safe method of jumping universes, but with all this anti-matter softening up reality, shouldn't be too dangerous to push through the dimensional boundaries.' The Doctor pulled out another device out of the floor, and plugged the chip into it.

'Wait, is that Krasko's vortex manipulator?' asked Ryan.

'Yep,' the Doctor said. 'I repaired it, just in case we ever needed it. Now seems as good as time as any.' The Doctor strapped the device onto her wrist.

'So, what do we do?' asked Yaz. 'Do we hold on to the device?'

'Nope,' answered the Doctor. 'We don't do anything. I do.'

'What?' Graham exclaimed. 'You're not doing this without us, Doc.'

'I have to. This device will only carry one person,' said the Doctor.

'How long will you be gone?' asked Ryan.

'Time doesn't move between dimensions, so I can be gone for years, and pop back a second later,' explained the Doctor, sonicking the device, followed by the TARDIS console. 'I've synced the device to the TARDIS. It'll track me across the Multiverse. If anything happens to me, the TARDIS will take you home.'

'Good luck,' said Graham, Yaz and Ryan in unison. 'Come back safe,' Graham finished.

The Doctor nodded, tapping at the device. She took one last look at her friends, as the device opened a breach, swallowing her and snapping shut.

'So what do we do now?' Ryan asked.

'Well, it might not be the Terrapika Fripec, but I've seen a canteen down the corridor,' said Graham, causing Yaz and Ryan to look at him. 'What? I'm still hungry.'


	2. We're Waddling through Time

**Part 2- We're Waddling through Time**

_Club Penguin, 24 October 2019_

The breach opened up onto an island of snow and ice. As the breach closed, the Doctor was left behind and fell to the ground, as she had materialised a short distance above it. She fell onto her back on a pile of snow, surrounded by snow-covered trees and rocks. Mountain ranges rose up in the distance.

'Well, at least it was a soft landing,' she muttered to herself. She turned her head and saw a herd of small, furry creatures with two eyes and a mouth. There were several colours of them: blue, pink, black, green, purple, red, yellow, white, orange and brown. The blue one looked at her and squeaked.

'Oh, hello there,' said the Doctor. 'Is this your place? It's very nice.' The creatures just looked at her, until the Doctor realised that they weren't looking at her, but a bush with round berries growing on it that was behind her.

'Do you want some of these berries?' asked the Doctor, standing up and pointing at the bush. The creatures squeaked excitedly, as the Doctor plucked a handful of berries and threw them, one at a time, to the creatures, who jumped up and caught them in their mouths. The Doctor watched in surprise as the black, furry creature in the herd swallowed its berry and caught on fire, turning red and flying in a circle around the Doctor before landing and returning to normal. The creatures suddenly darted off in different directions, leaving the Doctor alone. She plucked another berry from the bush.

'What an interesting fruit,' the Doctor commented, popping it into her mouth. Almost instantly, she gasped for air, as the berry left a very bitter taste in her mouth. 'Oh, that is not good.' The Doctor started checking the readings on her device. 'No anti-matter readings? That can't be right.'

Unbeknownst to the Doctor, she was being watched. Behind a nearby bush stood a polar bear and a crab, watching her intently. The crab clicked its claws a few times.

'I agree, Klutzy,' said the polar bear, to the crab. 'She does seem very smart. She can help us.'

'Maybe I should just move on to another universe,' the Doctor thought out loud. 'I'm not going to learn anything-'

The polar bear and Klutzy stepped out from behind the bush. 'Hello, there,' said the polar bear, grabbing the Doctor's attention. 'I am Herbert P. Bear, Esquire, and this is my loyal accomplice, Klutzy,' he finished, gesturing to the crab.

'Hello, there,' said the Doctor. 'I'm the Doctor.'

'Welcome to Club Penguin, Doctor,' said Herbert. 'Would you like a hot drink?'

* * *

_The Town_

The Doctor followed Herbert to a group of deserted buildings, one of which was called the Coffee Shop. As they entered, the Doctor stooped down to fit under the door. Herbert stepped behind the counter and started using the drinks machine.

'So, Herbert, I can't help but notice you call this place Club Penguin,' said the Doctor, sitting down on a sofa by the window. 'But I haven't seen any penguins. Only polar bears. And there's only one of you.'

'Up until a few years ago, penguins and polar bears shared this island,' explained Herbert. 'It was a place of fun and kindness. There were games and parties. It was paradise.'

'Then where is everyone?' asked the Doctor.

'They all moved on,' said Herbert, sitting next to the Doctor, handing her a cup of hot chocolate. 'Except me. I never had anywhere else to go. So, what brings you to Club Penguin?'

'There's a Crisis building up, out there in the Multiverse. I'm trying to figure out what's happening, so I can stop it,' said the Doctor. 'But there's no anti-matter signature here, so I'm going to move on to the next universe.'

'Before you do that,' said Herbert. 'Could I ask you for a favour?'

'Sure,' said the Doctor.

'There was a security agency that protected this island,' Herbert said. 'They were called the EPF. Since everyone left, I have been living in their former headquarters. Unfortunately, the last time I left, I forgot to check the security code that allows me to re-enter. Could you help me get back in?'

'Easily,' said the Doctor, pulling out her sonic screwdriver.

* * *

_The Ski Village_

'This way,' said Herbert. 'The entrance is hidden in that building there.' Herbert pointed at a building, next to a log cabin. The Doctor looked up at the sign above the door.

'The Everyday Phoning Facility?' read the Doctor. 'Seems fairly inconspicuous.'

'Indeed,' said Herbert, as they entered. 'The entrance is hidden behind the waterfall.' Herbert pointed to a waterfall, with a large badge in the centre.

'Let's get you into the top secret headquarters,' said the Doctor, aiming her sonic at the waterfall, opening up a secret lift. 'Let's go.' The Doctor, Herbert and Klutzy entered the lift, as the door closed, taking them down to the EPF Command Room.

'Oh, this is so cool,' said the Doctor, stepping out of the lift. 'Do you mind if I take a look at those computers?'

'Go right ahead,' said Herbert, as he turned to Klutzy. 'It worked, Klutzy. We got in! Now, to find what we came for.'

The Doctor was using the computers to check the Multiverse. 'I need to find a universe that's about to be threatened by anti-matter. That's where I'll get some answers.' An alert started beeping on the screen, and the Doctor pulled it up. 'Hostile presence detected?'

* * *

Meanwhile, Herbert had found what he was looking for, a large object hidden by a sheet. He pulled it off, revealing a large vehicle with a clock on the front. The Doctor stepped behind him.

'What's that?' she asked.

'This is the Time Trekker 3000,' said Herbert. 'The key to changing history to my liking.'

'So, it's true,' said the Doctor. 'You are the island's number one enemy. You lied to me.'

'You figured it out,' Herbert said. 'I knew you were smart. But not smart enough! Now, Klutzy!'

'Now, Klutzy, what?' asked the Doctor, confusedly. Herbert pointed up, and the Doctor looked upwards, seeing Klutzy in the roof supports, drop a VR headset that fell onto the Doctor's head, and it downloaded a VR program.

'The Missing Puffles?' The Doctor read out loud. 'Mission: Aunt Arctic… Famous Reporter for the Club Penguin Times… has lost two of her pet puffles. It is your assignment to find and rescue them. No, I don't have time for that!' The Doctor pulled the headset off, seeing Herbert and Klutzy already in the Time Trekker 3000.

'Thanks for helping me, Doctor,' said Herbert. 'Now, I shall stop the penguins ever coming to this island, so that I can do whatever I like with it! Ha, ha, ha!'

'Herbert, no!' cried the Doctor, taking out her screwdriver to shut down the Time Trekker 3000. However, it was too late as the Time Trekker disappeared in a flash of light. The Doctor ran back to the computer.

'I've got to track his temporal trajectory,' said the Doctor. 'Find out where he's going.' The Doctor bought up the trajectory, along with the relevant information about the destination. 'July 2000? The month the Experimental Penguins test run came to the island? Herbert's trying to stop Club Penguin before it even happens! I have to stop him. But how? He took the only time machine on the island!' With that, the EPF logo flashed up on the screen, as a video message started playing.

'Hello. My name is Gary,' said a blue penguin, wearing a lab coat and glasses. 'I am recording this message on March 28, 2017. If you are watching this, then Herbert has broken into the Command Room of the Elite Penguin Force, and he has stolen the Time Trekker 3000. That is not a good scenario. With the Trekker's technology, he will most likely go back in time and prevent penguins from ever coming back to this island. To that end, I have devised a plan. First, take the EPF Spy Phone that is about to teleport onto the desk.'

The Doctor watched as a device teleported onto the desk, and she picked it up. 'There are pre-set coordinates wired into the device,' Gary continued. 'They will take you to the Puffle Berry Mall, formerly known as the Stage. There was a play, called _The Penguins that Time Forgot, _that featured a time machine called the Time Travel 1000. That prop, along with everything from the Stage, is in the basement of the Mall. Little does anyone know, but I actually turned it into a fully functioning time machine, to be activated should the Time Trekker ever experience unauthorised use. All you have to do is press 'Go', and it will follow the Time Trekker 3000 through time. Good luck, agent.' The message ended as the EPF logo appeared once more, before the screen turned black.

The Doctor pressed the button at the bottom of the Spy Phone, and was instantly surrounded by a holographic box, with pairs of spinning arrows on each side. The box shrunk, taking the Doctor with it.

* * *

_Puffle Berry Mall- the basement_

The holographic box materialised the Doctor in the basement of the Mall, where all the Stage props, scripts and costumes were kept. She instantly started looking around for the Time Travel 1000. Her search was quick; for she soon set eyes on a large cardboard box with _Time Travel 1000 _written on the top, with a clock drawn on the side, sitting next to a control device with the words _Switchbox 3000 _on the side.

'Completely inconspicuous,' said the Doctor, smiling at Gary's ingenuity. 'I wish I could have met you, Gary. You're brilliant.' The Doctor got in, and saw the button marked 'Go', and, having closed the cardboard doors, pressed it, sending the Time Travel 1000 off through time, following the Time Trekker.

* * *

_Experimental Penguins, 1 July 2000_

The Time Travel 1000 arrived at its destination, landing next to the Time Trekker 3000. The Doctor clambered out.

'I'm late,' said the Doctor, worriedly noticing that Herbert and Klutzy had already left. At this point in time, the island was essentially a wilderness, so the Doctor was able to easily follow Herbert's tracks. She walked for a while, coming up to a red and white striped pole, with a white sphere on top. The Doctor stopped here for a moment, leaning on the pole to catch her breath. She was able to see the tracks leading in the direction of the Lighthouse, its beam of light shining brightly out to sea.

'So that's the plan,' the Doctor said. Clearly, Herbert planned on sabotaging the Lighthouse so the ship that was bringing the penguins here would never find the island. It was actually a solid plan. But the Doctor knew that she still had to stop him. She got up and started running, knowing that she couldn't waste a second.

* * *

_The Lighthouse_

'We're nearly ready, Klutzy,' said Herbert. He had been busy since arriving at the Lighthouse. He had taken the six barrels of cream soda stored inside the Lighthouse and positioned them in two stacks of three next to the side of the Lighthouse. He held up a device in his paw, with wires connecting it to each barrel. 'When I press this button, Klutzy, the fizziness of the cream soda will be increased so much that the barrels will explode, destroying the Lighthouse, so that those silly little birds never find their precious island! Then, we can go back to the future, and see how we got on with making this island suitable for me without them! Mwah ha ha!'

While Herbert had been explaining his evil plan to Klutzy, the Doctor had slipped round the back of the Lighthouse. With her sonic screwdriver, she had managed to disconnect five of the wires from the barrels.

'Now, Klutzy, it is time!' Herbert exclaimed, getting ready to press the button. The Doctor quickly tried to remove the sixth wire, but she was too late, as Herbert pressed the button, the barrel of cream soda exploding, blasting the Doctor over to Herbert and damaging the Lighthouse, though not as badly as Herbert had intended.

'Huh? Doctor?!' Herbert exclaimed in shock. 'How did you get here?'

'What can I say?' replied the Doctor. 'Gary outsmarted you.'

'It doesn't matter,' said Herbert. 'There's still time for me to stop the penguins getting here.' No sooner than he had said this, Herbert started to fade away. 'What's happening?'

The Doctor scanned him with her device. 'Well, you succeeded in your little plan,' she said. 'You changed the timeline. Club Penguin. Rewritten. But not in the way you'd intended.'

'What are you talking about?' Herbert demanded.

'Let's see,' said the Doctor, consulting the changes on her device. 'Some events delayed, some events erased. Long story short, the penguins never leave. And now, the universe is returning you and Klutzy back to where you should be in this new timeline. You won't even remember being here.'

'What? No,' Herbert cried, raising his arms and looking up to the sky, as he and Klutzy faded away from view. 'NOOOOOOOO!'

The Doctor consulted her device, confirming that both the Time Trekker 3000 and Time Travel 1000 had been returned into their proper places in the new timeline, before checking the damage to the Lighthouse.

'Not too bad, 'she said to herself. 'Six years or so, it'll need some major fundraising to fix that.' As she looked, the Doctor noticed the ship heading for Experimental Penguins. Although they couldn't hear her, she walked towards the shoreline and gave them a message.

'Make this island of snow and ice a place of fun and friendship,' the Doctor said. 'A place for games and laughter. A place where you can achieve anything together.'

The Doctor tapped on her device, getting it ready to open a breach, before she gave the last part of her message to the penguins.

'Waddle on.'


	3. Rubi of Two Worlds

**Part 3- Rubi of Two Worlds**

_Beanotown, 9 December 2019_

The portal opened up in the middle of a town square, and the Doctor stepped out. She instantly consulted her device, but once again found no trace of anti-matter.

'What is wrong with you? I programmed you to home in on universes with anti-matter signatures,' asked the Doctor, shaking her device. With this Crisis going on, she shouldn't have had any problem finding a universe with a strong anti-matter signature. 'Ok, need to find a universe with anti-matter, then use its dimensional frequency to jump there.' She noticed a policeman, with a half chewed tie, walking through the square.

'Excuse me,' she called, going over to him. 'Could you point me in the direction of the nearest scientific facility?'

'That I can, madam, or my name is not Sergeant Slipper,' said the policeman, pointing down the street. 'Professor Von Screwtop's laboratory is just down that street.'

'Von Screwtop?' said the Doctor to herself, as Slipper walked away. 'That name seems familiar.' As the Doctor walked off, a young boy wearing a blue jumper with glasses bumped into her.

'Oh,' exclaimed the Doctor. 'I'm so sorry.'

'That's alright,' said the boy. 'I, er, wasn't looking where I was going. Good day!' The boy ran off.

'He seemed familiar too,' the Doctor puzzled, walking towards the laboratory.

As the Doctor walked away, the boy walked up to his friend, who was wearing a similar outfit.

'I don't get it, Walter,' said the second boy. 'Why did you bump into that woman accidently on purpose?'

'Because, Bertie,' began Walter, holding up the Doctor's device, having taken it off her without her knowing. 'She used this to open some kind of portal. If I can understand how it works, I can use it to take over all of Beanotown. And then, the world! Ha Ha Ha Ha!'

* * *

The Doctor arrived outside the laboratory of Professor Von Screwtop, and knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing a grey-haired scientist with a moustache in a tweed suit.

'Can I help you?' he asked.

'Hi. Professor Von Screwtop? I'm the Doctor, a multiversal traveller,' she introduced herself. 'Do you mind if I use your computer system to check parallel universes for anti-matter signatures?'

Von Screwtop broke into a big smile, recognising the Doctor as a fellow scientist. 'Yes, of course! Come in!' he said, stepping aside to let the Doctor in.

The Doctor followed Von Screwtop into the main part of his lab, and saw four kids. One of the kids wore a red and black striped jumper, with spiky black hair and a dog. The Doctor recognised him instantly.

'Oh, you're Dennis and Gnasher!' the Doctor exclaimed excitedly, running over and shaking Dennis's hand. 'It's a genuine pleasure to meet you two!'

'Our fame precedes us, Gnasher,' said Dennis, throwing a sausage into the air as Gnasher barked happily and caught it.

'That would make you two JJ and Pieface!' said the Doctor, shaking the hands of a girl in a blue and purple t-shirt and a boy with a yellow hat and green hoodie. 'And that would mean that you are the amazing Rubi Von Screwtop!' The Doctor shook Rubi's hand. 'Oh, brilliant! That's why everything is familiar. This is Beanotown. I'm in _The Beano_! About time!'

'Dad, who is this?' asked Rubi. 'And how exactly does she know who we are?'

'I'm the Doctor,' she replied. 'In my universe, you're all characters in a comic called _The Beano. _Great read. I just need to use the computer system to find something, then I'll be off.' The Doctor walked over to the computer, and started scanning.

'What are you looking for?' asked JJ.

'Multiverse-ending Crisis,' said the Doctor. 'To stop it, I need to find a universe that's under threat right now, and jump there using my dimension jumper. That's a reference for you, Rubi.'

Everyone looked at Rubi, who shook her head, not getting it.

* * *

_WilburCorp_

'Well, have you worked out how to use the device yet, Dr Piffly-Popper?' asked Walter, impatiently pacing around.

'It's PFOOFLEFFER!' Dr Pfoofleffer snapped. 'And, yes, of course I've worked it out. It's a device for jumping across the Multiverse. That's a collective term for parallel universes. You just press this button and open a portal,' she finished, showing the controls to Walter, who snatched the device and pressed the button. A portal opened up, right in front of them.

'Ha Ha Ha Ha!' Walter laughed evilly. 'Now, all the Multiverse shall bow down before Walter Brown!' As he stepped towards the portal, a shadow appeared inside it, as someone else came through. A doppelganger of Rubi Von Screwtop, but with purple hair, and holding a laser.

'Huh? Rubi?' Walter asked in confusion. 'What are you doing here?'

'That is not the Rubi Von Screwtop you know,' said Dr Pfoofleffer. 'That's Rubi from an alternate universe!'

'Alternate universes, you say?' said Evil Rubi. 'Excellent! I've already conquered my Beanotown. Now I can conquer every version of Beanotown in existence!'

'What?' Walter exclaimed. 'I hardly think so. That's my plan!'

At that point, Evil Rubi zapped Walter and Dr Pfoofleffer with her laser.

'All hail Rubi Von Screwtop, our glorious leader,' they chanted in unison.

'Good to see that my obedience ray works in this universe too,' Evil Rubi said to herself. 'Now, show me how you brought me here, and the conquest can begin!'

* * *

_Von Screwtop's laboratory_

Back at the lab, the Doctor and Von Screwtop had successfully identified a universe under threat from a wave of anti-matter.

'So, as you can see, strangely measured trousers lady, this is the closest parallel universe to us that has a signature of anti-matter,' said Von Screwtop, excitedly. His watch beeped. 'Ooh! Lunchtime! Would anyone like anything?'

'We're good,' answered Dennis, everyone nodding in agreement. 'We stopped at Beano Burgers on the way here.'

'I'll take a packet of custard creams if you have any,' the Doctor replied, looking at the computer, as Von Screwtop ran out of the room. 'That universe is where I need to go. I'll input the dimensional frequency into my device, eat biscuits, and jump there.'

* * *

Meanwhile, on Gnasher's back, two fleas sat around a table in comfortable armchairs.

'Why did the biscuit go to the doctor?' said one of the fleas.

'I don't know,' asked the other one. 'Why did the biscuit go to the doctor?'

'Because he felt crummy!' said the first flea, as a third flea played a comedy rimshot on his drum kit.

* * *

The Doctor started tapping on her wrist, before realising her device was gone. 'My device!' she cried. 'It's gone! That is not good. I need to find it.'

'Maybe Paul took it,' said Pieface, taking a potato out of his pocket. 'He loves science. Give the nice lady her gizmo back, Paul.'

'Any device capable of jumping between dimensions would have extra-dimensional energy signatures,' said Rubi, picking up a computer tablet. 'I'll just scan for it. Oh, no! It's at WilburCorp!'

'Walter!' exclaimed Dennis. 'I should have known!'

'Walter? I knew that boy was familiar,' said the Doctor.

'I'm patching into their CCTV,' said Rubi, bringing up the feed on the computer screen. They saw the Rubi with purple hair, working on WilburCorp's computer system.

'The device is beginning to sync with WilburCorp's power supply,' said Evil Rubi. 'When it is charged, the portal can open, and I can fire my obedience ray at every Beanotown all at once! Ha Ha Ha!'

'Rubi, how did you get there so quickly?' asked Pieface. 'And when did you dye your hair? And why are you evilly trying to take over multiple Beanotowns?'

'That's not me, Pieface,' said Rubi. 'Well, it is me, but an evil me from an alternate universe! Walter must have used the Doctor's device to open a portal between our two universes.'

'Cool,' said JJ. 'You have an evil twin!'

'Technically, it's a doppelganger,' said the Doctor. 'A version of the same person whose life went in a very different direction.'

'Exactly,' agreed Rubi.

'Ok, we have to stop evil Rubi before she opens that portal,' said Dennis.

'And get my device back,' added the Doctor. 'But, you know, have a crazy Beano adventure first.'

* * *

_WilburCorp_

'The device has 20.17% left to synchronise with the WilburCorp network?' Evil Rubi groaned in frustration. 'Why are the computers on this Earth so slow?'

At that point, one of the WilburCorp henchbots- now programmed to obey Evil Rubi- entered the room, escorting Rubi.

'Empress Rubi, I found this intruder outside,' the henchbot declared.

'Oh, my doppelganger from this Earth,' said Evil Rubi. 'How fascinating! What are you doing here?'

'I'm here to stop you taking control of every Beanotown in the Multiverse,' said Rubi.

'You can't stop me!' said Evil Rubi. 'I will rule all the universes! Even the rubbish ones, like this one! Of course, I don't have to do it alone…'

'What are you talking about?' asked Rubi.

'You're clearly just as smart as I am,' Evil Rubi said. 'You can work with me. We can rule it all! The people in this town just don't appreciate your superior intellect! The citizens of my Beanotown never appreciated mine, so I used my intellect to rule them all! What do you say? Join me.'

'Never,' said Rubi. 'I will never help you.'

'Pity,' said Evil Rubi. 'I thought we were alike. I guess you can just watch me conquer them all myself. And then I'll conquer this one too! Pfoofleffer! Has the device fully synced?'

'Yes, my glorious empress,' Dr Pfoofleffer answered.

'Then, it is time!' declared Evil Rubi, going towards a big red button. 'Time to open a portal connecting this Beanotown to infinite Beanotowns!' Evil Rubi pressed the button hard, but nothing happened. She pressed it again. And then again. Still, nothing happened.

'What's going on?' Evil Rubi shouted in frustration.

'I guess you were wrong,' said Rubi. 'I'm not just as smart as you. I'm even smarter. Because I wasn't here alone. I was just the distraction. Say hello to my friends!' Rubi pointed at the door behind Evil Rubi, but nothing happened.

'Hang on a minute, we're not there yet,' Dennis's voice came in through Rubi's chat badge. The door then opened, revealing Dennis, Gnasher, JJ, Pieface and the Doctor.

'Say hello to my friends!' Rubi exclaimed triumphantly.

'You won't be conquering any more Beanotowns,' said the Doctor, holding up her device, having removed it from the WilburCorp systems.

'You think?' said Evil Rubi defiantly. 'I still have my obedience ray! I can take control of everyone in this town, and then open the portal!' She picked up the obedience ray, ready to use it. The Doctor simply took out her sonic screwdriver, and zapped the ray, which exploded in a shower of sparks and dropped to the floor.

'I don't think so,' said the Doctor. Walter and Dr Pfoofleffer were instantly released from Evil Rubi's control.

'What happened?' Walter asked.

'You let an evil Rubi into our universe,' said Dennis. 'Then she tried to conquer all of the Beanotowns.'

'Hey! If anyone's doing that, it's me!' said Walter.

'No! This is not over,' said Evil Rubi. 'Every Beanotown will obey the superior intellect of Rubi Von Screwtop!'

'Oh yeah? Start with this one,' said the Doctor, operating her device. A breach swallowed up Evil Rubi, and she disappeared.

* * *

_Von Screwtop's laboratory_

'Where did you send the evil Rubi?' asked Pieface.

'To an alternate Beanotown, where dogs are people and people are pets,' replied the Doctor, inputting the dimensional coordinates of the universe being threatened by anti-matter into her device. 'She'll spend too much time being chased to try and conquer it.'

'I guess you can say her plan went to the dogs!' said JJ, laughing.

'Brilliant,' said Dennis. 'Where did you get that idea?'

'Oh, I saw it in next year's Beano annual,' said the Doctor. 'Back when I was all big chin and bow tie.'

'So, I guess you're off now?' said Rubi.

'Afraid so,' said the Doctor. 'Got a Crisis to solve. But this has been so much fun. It's been a real honour to have a crazy adventure with you guys. Bye!' The Doctor waved, activating her device, and disappeared into a breach.

* * *

_The alternate Beanotown_

'Control, this is Sergeant Slobber,' said a humanoid dog in a police uniform, into his radio. 'I am in pursuit of a stray human! Over!' He chased after Evil Rubi.

'I'm not a pet, you dopey dog!' exclaimed Evil Rubi. 'Stop chasing me!'


	4. Rann like the Wind

**Part 4- Rann like the Wind**

_Earth-301- Brainiac's Skull Ship_

'Calculations complete,' Brainiac uttered to himself, looking down on Earth from above. 'I have selected the best country of Earth to raise you, young Jor-El. Kaznia. A land of discipline and authority. Yes, that is the most suitable location.' Brainiac walked over to a small pod, containing a baby, Jor-El. 'You will rule over them for me, my son.'

Brainiac was then distracted by a flash of energy coming from the entrance to the bridge. The Doctor stepped through the doorway.

'Oh, hello!' she said enthusiastically. 'Don't mind me.' The Doctor walked over to the controls.

'Identify yourself,' Brainiac demanded.

'I'm the Doctor,' she said. 'And you are?'

'I am Brainiac, a twelfth level intellect,' he replied, as the Doctor noticed the baby behind him.

'Is that your baby?' she asked.

'Yes,' Brainiac said simply, as Jor-El gurgled.

'No, he's not,' said the Doctor, walking over. 'He just told me that his name is Jor-El, that you kidnapped him from his parents and his planet. What was that?' The Doctor leaned down. 'He wants you to conquer the planet below?'

'How are you obtaining this information?' Brainiac asked.

'I speak baby. Apparently, it's a multiversal language,' said the Doctor. 'Don't even think about conquering Earth. Especially don't even think about using a baby to do it.'

'Earth will be mine,' Brainiac said. 'I have accounted for every variable.' At that moment, the ship was hit by a massive shockwave. 'What was that?'

'That was the one variable that you didn't account for,' retorted the Doctor, as a massive wave of white energy swallowed up Earth right in front of them. 'Ah, now we're cooking!'

'Fascinating,' said Brainiac, looking at the wave. 'A wave of anti-matter.'

'Yes, highly fascinating. You know what's even more fascinating?' the Doctor asked. 'The fact that we're next! This ship has hyper-drives. We need to get out of here!' The Doctor began using her screwdriver on the ship's controls.

'It is futile,' said Brainiac. 'There is no escape.'

The Doctor activated the hyper-drives.

* * *

_Rann_

Nyssa-Vex ran across the beach that she had teleported onto. She had explored for a while, finding victims of a massacre, before finding a cave with a mysterious symbol painted with blood. Upon discovering it, she had been sighted by a squadron of winged humanoids that had given chase. Nyssa came to a stop and hid behind some rocks, catching her breath as she watched them fly past her location. After a few moments, she got up and turned around, only to see another one of the creatures behind her. It folded its wings behind its back, and aimed its gun at her. Nyssa put her hands up in the air.

* * *

Up in space, Brainiac's ship came into orbit around Rann.

'Well, that was a bit rough,' said the Doctor, getting up off the floor and checking Jor-El, making sure he was ok.

'You forced my ship into a hyper-jump,' said Brainiac. 'That conclusion was obvious. We are now in orbit above the planet Rann.'

'How about saying thank you?' said the Doctor. 'Since I just saved your life.'

'You have merely delayed the inevitable,' Brainiac said.

'You call it delaying the inevitable, I call it buying time to figure out how to stop that anti-matter wave,' said the Doctor. 'Supposedly, it's happening everywhere. In every universe. Not that I've seen much trace it of it. It's almost as if someone's monitoring me, and trying to keep me away from Crisis.'

'You cannot stop it,' said Brainiac. 'All calculations concur. The universe will be consumed by the anti-matter wave. Numerous planets have already fallen. Tamaran, Earth, Mars, Swan Moon. More are falling as we speak. Ah, we are about to have visitors.'

At that moment, another portal opened up, leaving behind two men. One looked human, whilst the other had grey skin, but both were armed. The human looking one pointed his gun at Brainiac.

'Seg-El, Lobo,' said Brainiac, nodding to each of them.

'Give me back my son, Brainiac,' said Seg-El.

'Oh, you're Jor-El's father?' said the Doctor, as Seg pointed his gun at her.

'Who the hell are you?' he asked.

'I'm the Doctor,' she said. 'Long story short, there's a wave of anti-matter wiping this universe out of existence. I'm trying to figure out how to stop it.'

'Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, end of the fraggin' universe,' said Lobo. 'Brainiac! You mother-fragging bastich! I'm going to kill you!'

'I know,' said Brainiac.

'No,' said the Doctor, stepping towards Lobo. 'No-one is killing anyone.'

Lobo simply stared at the Doctor, before pulling the trigger, and shooting Brainiac in the head.

'That was unnecessary,' said the Doctor, as Brainiac's now headless body fell to the floor.

'Nah, it was,' said Lobo, walking off to the controls. The Doctor used her screwdriver to release Jor from the pod, passing him to Seg, who dropped his gun to the floor and took his son.

'Alright, Lobo,' said Seg. 'You killed Brainiac, I've got my son back. Now, let's use this ship to get back to Krypton.'

'That wasn't our deal,' said Lobo. 'Brainiac's dead, deal's finished. Bye, bye, Seagull!' Lobo gave the Doctor and Seg a mocking little wave, as he operated the controls, teleporting them off the ship.

* * *

The two of them, with Jor-El, materialised in a field.

'No!' Seg cried in frustration.

'I don't think much of your friend,' said the Doctor, scanning for the ship with her screwdriver. 'He's already hyper-jumped. I can't teleport us back on board.'

'He's not my friend,' said Seg, holding Jor and following the Doctor, as she walked away. 'It was a necessary partnership. He wanted to kill Brainiac, Brainiac kidnapped my son. Except now he's stolen Brainiac's ship, and I have no way to get back to Krypton!'

'Why can't you go back the way you came?' asked the Doctor.

'My grandfather, Val, used technology to project us across the Phantom Zone to Brainiac's ship, using Lobo's coordinates,' explained Seg. 'The idea was to use Brainiac's ship to go back to Krypton. Why am I even telling you this? You were with Brainiac. How can I trust you?'

'I wasn't on his ship by choice,' said the Doctor, brandishing her device. 'There is a Crisis threatening the entire Multiverse, generating waves of anti-matter that are dissolving whole universes. Including this one. The wave has already destroyed Earth.'

'Earth's gone?' said Seg, all doubt of the Doctor gone. 'That's impossible. My friend Adam is from Earth. In the future. He knows my grandson.'

'Whatever future your friend came from,' said the Doctor gently. 'It's gone. I'm sorry.'

As the Doctor said these words, Seg recalled his grandfather telling him about a conversation he and Adam had.

* * *

_Krypton- a few weeks previously_

'I don't know, Val,' said Adam. 'You're the scientist here, but I think that somehow, somewhere along the way, I think I might have effed up and broke the damn universe.'

'Broke it?' said Val.

'Yeah,' Adam replied.

'What do you mean?' Val asked.

'Before I returned to Krypton, I was using the Zeta-Beam,' explained Adam. 'And I- I caught a glimpse of the future. But there was nothing. It was like I hit a wall. There was nowhere I could go forward. It was as if, uh, time had stopped.'

Adam paused for a moment. 'Ok, now, what if everything that's happened, with Brainiac and Zod, Krypton and Earth, what if everything that's changed since I gave Seg the sunstone, what if that all rippled through time and space and has been building like a tsunami into this catastrophic universe-ending shitstorm, and what if it's all my fault?'

'Adam, whatever you saw,' said Val, firmly and kindly. 'I highly doubt that you were responsible.'

* * *

'Adam saw the future,' said Seg. 'He said there was some kind of wall, where the future just didn't exist. He thought that he caused it. Is that what's happening now?'

'Sounds like it,' said the Doctor. 'But it definitely wasn't his fault.'

The Doctor and Seg came up over the top of a hill, and were shocked to see the remains of a city, burning and smoking.

'What in the name of Rao?' Seg said.

'The city has been destroyed,' said the Doctor, scanning it with her sonic screwdriver. 'Quite recently, too. No signs of life. It was a massacre.'

'We should probably go,' said Seg. 'Before whoever did this comes after us.'

'Something bad is happening here on Rann,' said the Doctor. 'We need to find out what.'

'Did you just say Rann?' asked Seg.

'According to Brainiac, that's the name of this planet,' the Doctor replied.

'That's amazing!' exclaimed Seg. 'My friend, Adam, had a device called a Zeta-Beam that originated here. Jor's mother, Nyssa, used it to come here to try and locate Brainiac. If we find her, that's how we can get back to Krypton!'

'Good for you,' said the Doctor. 'But I still need to figure what's going on here, and how to stop the wave of anti-matter.'

'If you help me find Nyssa,' said Seg. 'I'll help you.'

'Done,' said the Doctor. The two of them turned around, finding a bald man wearing green goggles and a white coat standing behind them, aiming a gun at them.

'You're coming with me,' he said bitterly.

* * *

The man escorted the Doctor and Seg to a laboratory on the outskirts of the ruined city.

'Get over there. In the corner,' he said, gesturing to the corner of the room with his gun.

'Who exactly are you?' asked the Doctor.

'My name is Sardath,' he replied. 'Now, shut up.' Sardath started working on his computer, opening up a video feed, showing a woman wearing a metal bird-like helmet.

'Shayera Thal,' said Sardath, to the woman on screen.

'Sardath,' replied Shayera. 'We crushed and burned your little attack force on the beach. Do you now surrender?'

'There are other Rannians on the planet,' he said. 'We will never surrender.'

'Perhaps you will change your mind,' said Shayera. 'When you see that I caught your spy.' She stepped aside and revealed Nyssa standing behind her, held by a similarly dressed soldier.

'I told you already,' Nyssa said. 'I'm not a spy. I don't know what's going on here.'

'Silence!' shouted Shayera.

'Nyssa!' exclaimed Seg, stepping into shot.

'Seg? What are you doing here?' Nyssa asked.

'Long story,' he answered, holding up Jor. 'I got Jor back.'

'You got our son back?' asked Nyssa, not quite believing it.

'He also met me. Hello,' said the Doctor, waving.

'Excuse me!' exclaimed Sardath. 'You are my hostages, and I am showing your leader that I captured you! Get back in the corner!'

'Hate to break it to you, but neither us nor the bird lady's hostage has anything to do with this conflict,' said the Doctor, as Nyssa knocked the soldier that was holding her out, taking his gun, firing it at Shayera, who fell to the ground, stunned instantly.

'I'm on my way,' Nyssa said, leaving the shot, as the feed cut out. Sardath slammed his fist down in frustration. Seg passed Jor to the Doctor, before punching Sardath in the face.

'We need to go and meet her,' said Seg. 'Then we can get off this planet.' He took Jor back and started running.

'Sorry,' said the Doctor, looking at Sardath, before running after Seg.

* * *

The Doctor scanned Seg's Kryptonian DNA to track Nyssa's location, leading them to the same field they had arrived in, where they saw Nyssa, who ran towards them. Nyssa quickly took Jor from Seg, and kissed him on the forehead, before hugging Seg. As she pulled away from the hug, she noticed the Doctor.

'Who's this?' Nyssa asked.

'I'm the Doctor,' she replied, taking Nyssa's hand and shaking it. 'Ok, quick version. Universe ending Crisis, generating waves of anti-matter that are taking out universe after universe. I'm trying to stop it, I landed on Brainiac's ship, Seg showed up, got Jor back, then we came down here. Did I miss anything?' she asked, turning to Seg.

'Just Lobo,' Seg replied. 'But he's a dick.'

'Mind your language,' the Doctor retorted.

'Sorry, did you say end of the universe?' asked Nyssa.

'I did, but please don't panic,' said the Doctor. 'I will do everything I can to stop the wave before it destroys any more of this universe.'

'I promised to help her fix it in exchange for finding you,' explained Seg.

'Well, then, you can count me in too,' Nyssa said defiantly. 'We just got our son back. I'm not about to let the universe be destroyed.'

'Ok, so, before that, what do we do about the humanoid tiger that's pointing a gun at us?' the Doctor asked, in hushed tones, as Seg and Nyssa turned and looked at what the Doctor was talking about. The Doctor gave a little wave to the tiger. 'Why do people keep getting guns pointed at them today?'

* * *

The humanoid tiger escorted the three of them back to his ship at gun-point, and had taken them to a prison cell. He had ushered them in.

'You shall not interfere in the efforts of the Omega Men,' he proclaimed, stepping outside the cell and closing the doors, locking the Doctor, Seg, Nyssa and Jor in. As the door closed, Nyssa recognised the symbol printed on it. The same symbol that the tiger had been wearing on his uniform.

'I've seen that symbol before,' said Nyssa. 'I found it painted in a cave, near where I arrived.'

'Right, so that tiger guy is responsible for all of this?' asked Seg.

'Crisis? No. But this war? Working theory,' the Doctor said. 'This planet has been invaded by winged bird people. They've slaughtered the indigenous population, the Rannians, to try and take this planet as their own. A situation that these 'Omega Men' are manipulating for their own gain. What do you say we get out of here, and get some answers from Tigger out there?'

'How?' asked Nyssa. 'We're locked in.'

'True,' said the Doctor, pulling out her sonic screwdriver. 'But he didn't bother searching us.' With that, she aimed her sonic at the door and unlocked it.

* * *

The tiger man sat at the controls to his ship, sending out a message.

'Harpis, the situation here on Rann is escalating,' he said. 'I am still no closer to finishing what I set out to do. End message, and send.' He got up and walked towards the doorway, opening the door. Seg entered, instantly pinning him against the wall, followed by the Doctor and Nyssa, who was still holding Jor.

'Alright, then,' said the Doctor. 'I want some answers. What exactly is going on here, who are the Omega Men and why are they engineering this situation to their own advantage?'

'To our own advantage?' asked the tiger man, looking at the Doctor in shock. 'I'm here to try and resolve this conflict!'

'Oh. What?' the Doctor asked. 'I didn't see that coming.'

'My name is Taghurruh,' he said, as Seg released him. 'There are waves of energy ripping through the universe, destroying planet after planet.'

'Anti-matter,' the Doctor nodded.

'Hundreds upon thousands of species are being displaced,' said Taghurruh. 'Every peacekeeping organisation in the universe is spread thin trying to relocate those who have lost their homes. The Green Lantern Corps, the Omega Men, the Darkstars. I was sent here to negotiate peace between the Rannians and the Thanagarians.'

'Thanagarians?' asked the Doctor. 'The winged chaps?'

Taghurruh nodded. 'Their world, Thanagar, was destroyed. They set their sights on Rann, and they didn't care there was already a population. I was under the impression that you were manipulating the situation.'

'No, these two were just trying to get their son back,' said the Doctor, gesturing to Seg and Nyssa. 'Which they did. I'm trying to stop this Crisis before it consumes the entire Multiverse.'

At that point, both Sardath and Shayera Thal entered through opposite doors, and aimed their guns at each other.

'Interesting, that our hostages should lead us to each other,' said Sardath.

'Your rebellion ends now,' said Shayera. 'This planet belongs to the Thanagarians!'

'No! Stop!' shouted the Doctor. 'This Rann-Thanagar War ends now. This is Taghurruh, and he's been sent here to negotiate peace between you. This universe is quite literally in Crisis now, so the two of you are going to sit down as representatives of your species, and talk this out. Got that?'

Both Sardath and Shayera were stunned by the authority of this woman, nodding in agreement to her terms and dropping their guns.

'That's better,' said the Doctor. 'Now, I just need to stop Crisis, then everything will be fine.'

* * *

The Doctor was sitting down on a rock outside Taghurruh's ship, consulting a stream of information on her device. Seg and Nyssa, carrying Jor, stepped outside and walked over to her.

'Well, it's working,' said Nyssa. 'Shayera and Sardath are talking it out. I think their two species will co-exist just fine.' The Doctor smiled at this.

'What are you doing?' asked Seg, taking Jor from Nyssa.

'Ever since I saw Earth get destroyed by anti-matter,' explained the Doctor. 'My device has been analysing it, and I think I have devised the best way to stop the anti-matter waves before they destroy what's left of this universe, and move on to the next.'

'Great!' said Nyssa. 'How are you going to do it?'

'Well, if I can build some sort of quantum generator,' said the Doctor. 'I could use it to generate a quantum flux field that would be capable of dispersing the anti-matter wave, stopping it dead in its tracks.'

As the Doctor said this, Rann's sky turned a deep blood red. The Doctor got up, as Seg and Nyssa looked up at the sky in shock.

'Why has the sky gone red?' asked Seg. The Doctor scanned the sky with her screwdriver.

'Red sky in the morning, anti-matter warning,' the Doctor said gravely. 'The first particles of anti-matter hitting the atmosphere, tinting the sky red. We have a maximum of fifteen minutes before the wave hits us. No, fifteen seconds. Fifteen hours! Ah! There's too many readings to get an accurate fix!'

'Now would probably be a good time for that quantum tower you were talking about, Doctor,' said Seg.

'I don't have time or the parts to build it,' said the Doctor, starting to panic.

'What if we jump over to the next galaxy?' asked Nyssa. 'That would buy you enough time, right?' The Doctor nodded.

'We can use the Zeta-Beam,' said Seg, as Nyssa shook her head.

'I don't have it. The Thanagarians confiscated it,' said Nyssa.

'Ok, so we use your device,' said Seg, to the Doctor.

'My device only carries one person through a portal,' said the Doctor. 'But, in theory, that person could carry someone smaller than them. Like a baby. I could take Jor. I could save him!'

Seg and Nyssa both nodded in agreement. 'Give me a minute to program the device,' the Doctor said, tapping away at the controls, before her device exploded off of her wrist and fell to the ground.

'What happened?' asked Nyssa.

'Too much anti-matter! It got into the dimensional circuitry, frying it,' the Doctor cried, examining the device. 'It's completely useless now!'

As the Doctor looked up, she saw the red sky get absorbed by a wave of anti-matter, consuming Rann at an impossible pace. She watched it destroy Taghurruh's ship. 'Look out!' the Doctor yelled to Seg and Nyssa, too late, as the wave vaporised both them and Jor.

As the wave slid towards her, she realised that this was it. No way out. She couldn't do the one thing that her friends had asked her to. She couldn't come back safe. The TARDIS would sense what had happened to her, and return them to Sheffield, 2019. 'Have a good life, fam,' the Doctor said to herself. 'I'm sorry.'

The wave approached the Doctor, and everything went black.


	5. Meeting the Monitor

**Part 5- Meeting the Monitor**

_The Monitor's realm_

The Doctor woke with a start, finding herself lying on some kind of disc, hanging in space. Slowly and shakily, she got to her feet and stood up.

'Am I dead?' she asked, uncertainly.

'No,' boomed a powerful voice. The Doctor turned to see a large man, wearing a cape and an armoured suit with a large collar watching her. 'I pulled you away from Rann seconds before the anti-matter wave consumed you.'

'That's not possible,' said the Doctor, looking him up and down. 'Yet another one of the Time Lord's multiversal myths that turned out true. Mar Novu. The Monitor.'

'You have been travelling from universe to universe,' the Monitor stated. 'What have you learned?'

'At a guess, you've been watching me the whole time. So you already know that,' replied the Doctor.

'Enlighten me, nonetheless,' he instructed.

The Doctor looked right at him. 'A Crisis is imminent. There are huge waves of anti-matter building up, weakening the fabric of dimensions, and they are powerful enough to wipe whole universes from existence. Like files being wiped from a hard drive.'

'Indeed,' the Monitor confirmed. 'All the Multiverse is threatened.'

'But do you know what's really bothering me?' the Doctor said. 'It's not the fact that someone out there is actually stupid enough to try and destroy the Multiverse, but you. Why, out of everyone in that universe, did you choose to save me?'

'Because your universe needs you,' said the Monitor.

'What does it matter? If the anti-matter waves aren't kept in check, they'll eventually consume my universe too,' the Doctor answered back.

'No,' he answered. 'They shall not.'

'How can you be so sure?' the Doctor asked.

'Because the Multiverse is prepared,' Novu explained. 'In times of crisis, such as this, the Multiverse creates a quarantine zone, containing billions of universes, with the destruction being confined within. I have taken advantage of this, and sculpted my plans around the quarantine zone. My nemesis-'

'Who's your nemesis?' the Doctor interrupted.

'Your people had legends about me,' Novu replied. 'And they had legends about him. My nemesis. My counterpart. My opposite. Mobius. The Anti-Monitor.'

'I remember the myths,' said the Doctor. 'God, those stories were one of the few things to give me nightmares.'

'The Anti-Monitor is within the quarantine zone,' Novu continued. 'Unleashing waves of anti-matter, in an effort to annihilate every universe inside the quarantine zone, believing it to be the Multiverse in its entirety.'

'If you know about the quarantine zone, what's stopping him from knowing about it too?' the Doctor questioned.

'His arrogance,' stated Novu. 'He truly believes that he is capable of killing that which is infinite. And that is what I am counting on. I have recruited heroes, who, like Mobius, are under the belief that the quarantine zone is the entire Multiverse, and that he is succeeding in destroying it all. They will believe that they have stopped him, with one universe left in existence. Then, that universe will be destroyed by his hand.'

'All those trillions of universes, each with trillions of lives, they'll be dead and gone,' the Doctor proclaimed. 'That is not a good outcome.'

'Indeed, but that is not the end of my plan,' said Novu. 'Seven heroes, the Paragons, will be transported to a pocket dimension contained within that final universe, but disconnected from its space-time continuum. Mobius will be unable to touch them. In order to destroy them, he will travel back in time, to the dawn of his anti-matter universe, where he will attempt to destroy the universes within the quarantine zone before the Paragons are born. There, with the help of the Spectre, they will overwhelm him, restoring all the universes lost, before returning to their universe, and defeating him.'

'All the universes?' the Doctor asked. 'They'll all come back, exactly as they were?'

'More or less,' he replied. 'There will be glitches. Alterations to their timelines. People vanishing, trapped in other universes. Universes merging. Due to the residual levels of anti-matter in the Void, each universe within the quarantine zone will be cut off from all the others, each one believing itself to be the last.'

'Oh,' said the Doctor. 'That's actually not a bad plan.'

'Thank you,' said Novu.

'Let me help,' demanded the Doctor. 'If I'm from a universe outside the quarantine zone, then that makes me one hell of a secret weapon.'

The Monitor simply looked at her. 'No.'

'No?' the Doctor exclaimed. 'You know I can help.'

'Your inclusion is far too risky, and could expose the quarantine zone to the Anti-Monitor,' he said.

'It was you, wasn't it?' said the Doctor, in a moment of realisation. 'You kept diverting me away from Crisis.'

'Indeed. You were never supposed to know about it,' the Monitor said. 'But when you finally got a fix on a universe inside the quarantine zone, I could no longer stop you. Only wait until the last second to pull you out. However, there is something that you are required to do.'

'Anything to help,' said the Doctor. 'What is it?'

'Even with the quarantine zone, the effects of Crisis can be felt by the universes outside it,' Novu began. 'There are creatures called the Kasaavin. Their dimension has been weakened by the Crisis, and they have taken advantage of the situation, infiltrating your universe at numerous points in time and space. You must stop their plans.'

'Alright, then,' the Doctor replied. 'Just point the way.'

'I cannot,' stated the Monitor. 'You must stumble across their plot of your own accord, with no foreknowledge.'

'Well, it wasn't very sensible to tell me about it then, was it?' the Doctor exclaimed.

'It matters not. I shall return you to your universe, aboard your TARDIS. I will erase the memories of you and your companions, so you have no knowledge of the Crisis, or the consequences that you must stop,' said the Monitor.

With that, the Monitor raised his hand, and the Doctor was absorbed by a breach.

* * *

_The TARDIS_

The Doctor leaned on the console, then suddenly stood up.

'You alright?' asked Ryan.

'Was I saying something important?' asked the Doctor, feeling as though something was missing from her mind.

'No,' answered Yaz. 'You've just been standing there for the past half hour, brooding. Is everything ok?'

'Oh, I'm sure it's all fine,' said the Doctor. 'Can't be that much of a crisis. Hey, who wants some food?'

Graham's hand shot up.

'I know a terrific restaurant,' said the Doctor. 'I mean, technically, it's a little bit carnivorous, but it received five hundred stars in _History's Finest Exploding Restaurants._'

The faces of her companions dropped.

The Doctor smiled. 'Don't worry, I'll avoid the exploding.'

The Doctor pulled the lever, sending the TARDIS spinning through time and space, her and her friends completely unaware of the Crisis raging above their heads.

* * *

Back in his realm, Mar Novu stood solemnly, as an old man with white hair and glasses appeared behind him.

'Are you sure it was a good idea to leave her out of this?' he asked.

'I had no choice. There are multiversal forces that forbid her participation,' Novu replied.

'Yeah, that's what you said when I suggested that you should recruit the Avengers,' said the man.

'You know as well as I do that their universe is at a critical point in its timeline,' Novu answered. 'Any outside interference could put it all in jeopardy.'

'Well, you better hope that your plan works,' the man said. 'If it doesn't, there'll be no chance of the Spectre resurrecting you.'

Novu smiled, as he heard someone calling him from across the dimensions. 'You had better leave,' he said. 'As I have planned, Oliver Queen is demanding an audience with me…'

**TO BE CONTINUED ON…**

**CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS**


End file.
